A Grave Loss: Ousmane Sembene (1923-2007)

6/14/2007

Ousmane Sembene died last Saturday, at the age of 84, after a long illness. Dubbed the Father of African cinema, he was a brilliant writer and hero of mine, and will be sorely missed.

Sembene said, in a recent Guardian interview, "I think big campaigns such as Make Poverty History and Live 8 are fake, and I think African heads of state who buy into that idea are liars. The only way for us to come out of poverty is to work hard."